For their 11th annual Prayer Breakfast, founder Cynthia Austin and the ladies of Designing Women Ministries decided to break things up a bit.
Specifically, they broke the event into two components, starting with a nighttime "Black Tie & Bling" ceremony for honorees and scholarship recipients held April 1 in the Little Rock Marriott ballroom. Guests turned out in formal attire for the evening, for which Angela Braggs and Theodore White were masters of ceremony.
Golden Oscar-like statues were presented to each of the Phillip Austin Humanitarian honorees: pastors William L. Robinson and Danita Waller-Paige; educator Valerie Tatum; pastors' wives LaQuisha Lindsey and Chyrel Thornton; hairdresser Tamyla McElroy; fashion designer Korto Momolu; Ceci McDowell of Ceci's Chicken N Waffles; and musician Rodney Block. Highlighting the event was Waller-Paige's rousing renditions of "If I Can Help Somebody" and "To God Be the Glory," and Block's equally rousing trumpet performance of the Donnie McClurkin gospel hit "We Fall Down."
A $500 scholarship, also named for Cynthia Austin's late husband, Phillip Austin, was presented to Tonia Polk.
The event was followed by the April 2 breakfast, also held at the Marriott and featuring Bishop Avery Austin of Total Deliverance Church of Lancaster, Calif.
High Profile on 04/17/2016